the broad and healthy forms it shall assume. In that Missionary Church the mighty evils of early ages shall find no place. In its outward form it may be purely Native to the lands in which it flourishes. Though founded by friendly foreigners, it need not perpetuate the Western customs of the men who began it; but Native in its fellowship, its worship, and its action, its outward forms shall more truly express and develope the feeling, the principle, and the life of its Christian members than any foreign system can do. In a word, pure in its spirit, complete in its consecration, filled with the rich experience of the varied past, the full force of all its Native elements shall be offered with simplicity and truth to the Saviour, who is its Lord. This is the end to which the efforts, the co-operation, the full Scripture teaching of all branches of the Church of Christ lead us on.

The CHAIRMAN said: Christian friends, I have always had an opinion that everything at a missionary meeting should be placed in subordination to the Report of the Society. That Report is divided into two parts. A part of it is the official Report of the Society at home, and a part of it is the oral Report of the men who have come from the mission field, from the high places of the work, and are, as they always ought to be, in the front rank of the platform, and occupying the principal portion of the meeting. Unfortunately, we have a custom which seems to oblige the chairman of a meeting to make what is called a speech; but I have always pitied the chairman who has had to make a speech without having had the opportunity of listening to the Report. I have had that opportunity to-day, and my remarks will be very brief because I propose only to touch upon a few points brought prominently before us in that remarkable and most satisfactory report. The Report of 1867 was one of gloomy foreboding and yet of courageous faith. The Report of 1868 relieved us, to a great extent, of those anxieties and pressing cares almost amounting to embarrassment, which had encompassed our work. The Report of 1869, as you have heard it, reminds us that a voice has rebuked our faithlessness and has spoken in our midst, "Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen." Three things require notice. There has been faithful revision on the part of your Directors of the whole arrangements at home and abroad in connection with your operations. A wise economy has been exercised, which, without removing a single missionary from his sphere of labour, or the abandonment of a single station, has managed to reduce the expenditure of the Society at home and abroad to such an extent as to relieve us considerably from the difficulties by which we were surrounded. And then there is the great increase of the income to be noted, which shows that through this country, and also through our foreign stations, this Society commands, at the present time, an amount of confidence never before exceeded, and which, I trust, is to be continued through many long years. I ought to refer specially to a great effort made by Christian young men connected with our institution, worthy of all praise, and, what is better still, worthy of enlarged copying. These young men have raised a considerable fund, and, as I understand, they are prepared to do so through coming years, enlarging their organisation, and making that permanent which might be supposed to be merely accidental and temporary. We have two difficulties before us, and I must refer to them. The one, and the greatest, is that which

has to do with Madagascar; it has been referred to in the Report. Christian friends, you know that this platform is a catholic platform-by that I mean a broad platform-and upon it we should give the right hand of welcome to any Christian brethren of any evangelical denomination. It was founded upon this principle. In early days the sermons of this Society were preached in the great churches of this city, and men of title-men high in position, of many denominations— were found upon this platform. It is not our fault that it is not now as it used to be. We are just where we were, and I claim that this Society is truly catholic in its spirit, and it demands therefore from all other societies and from all other persons the same spirit it has always exemplified itself. Now, in reference to Madagascar, where we have had a work of toil, and where God has lately blessed the labours of our faithful servants, there is a proposal to plant a bishop, and take possession of that island by a body of persons representing a Church hitherto but little known amongst them. Now this appears to me to be, to use the mildest terms, first of all, a violation of Christian principle, and then a violation of a well-understood arrangement and compact amongst missionary societies. It may be very well for us to act denominationally in connection with our religious movements at home. It may be better that we should do so, because we may be able to command an influence over a larger number, if in a brotherly spirit we nevertheless have our divided action. But when we go abroad, with the Bible in our hands and the Gospel truth, the only thing to teach to the poor heathen, it is a cruel thing, it is a shameful thing, to introduce sectarian controversy, and to perplex the mind newly awakened to thought upon religious matters with mere theological questions, and questions which have to do with ecclesiastical government. I believe I may say that this Society has always avoided any such conflict of opinion in the presence of the great mass of the heathen. And lately we have given proof of that in arrangements which have been made with regard to Tahiti, and in arrangements made in other districts. I have been an attendant at these meetings ever since I was a child, and I must confess that I have never heard upon this platform mentioned the great and sainted names of Williams and Vanderkemp, and Philip and Morrison, and Milne and Henderson, without hearing also, and with an equal amount of satisfaction, the names of Brainerd, and Schwartz, and Henry Martyn. I read the other day, in a speech by a prelate of the Church of England, these words:-"It would indeed be a blessed thing if those who earnestly desired to promote the pure Gospel of their Lord and Saviour, were to unite more and more closely together, as it were, into a hallowed confederacy to use more energy, more prayer, and to give larger contributions, in order to send that Gospel to heathen lands." To that sentiment my heart said "Amen;" but I was pained in the extreme when I followed that speech, and found that all this related simply to a controversy which has sprung up between two societies connected with the Church of England, and did not embrace the whole of our missionary operations. Are they not servants of one Master? If they are one in Him, surely they ought to be one with another. It can but proceed from the spirit of pride, which says, "Stand by! I am holier than thou." If such a policy should proceed, and if, ill-advised, the Directors of a certain Society should plant their bishops in Madagascar, well, then, the world will look on and say, "Other men laboured, and they entered into their labours." Now the

only other point is that which refers to China, and reference was made in a certain House" another place" as it is called-to the policy of the English Government with reference to our missionaries. A certain duke, who certainly is not made of the stuff that martyrs and missionaries are made of, has told us every missionary is prompted either by a spirit of intense enthusiasm, or that he must be a thorough rogue. He says that our missionaries fear to go where there is danger, and that every one of them requires to be protected by a British gunboat. Well, one would not have expected to hear-almost unrebuked, but not quite, thanks to one of the bishops of this land—such a sentiment as this uttered in the House of Lords. We know where civilisation ought to go, but it does not precede the work of the missionary. We know what the value is of our work and where it tells, and we are not in this day to be taught and lectured by gentlemen who have apparently very little sympathy with our work, and who have a great desire that we may be kept out of expensive wars. In that we share their feeling, but we maintain, and history will prove it, that the missionary, instead of leading this country into difficulties and expensive wars, has, in his place, been a man of peace, and has prevented, by his counsels, many great and serious difficulties which would have arisen in all those places where our stations are. Well, now, in answer to that, we have distinctly Christ's command that we must go. As I said before, we have no option. It is . not for us to go to Governments and ask where we are to go, when we are to go, and how we are to be protected. The best answer I heard given to this unnecessary rebuke was one given upon this platform the other night by a missionary, whose voice you will hear presently. He said "Let the Government tell us where they will protect us, and where they will withdraw their protection. If they protect us we will go, and if they withhold their protection we will go." Sir Colin Campbell once said-"I was sent to take that place, and I must take it." Every missionary is inspired with that spirit-the spirit which animated those who attended the first missionary meeting ever held-the spirit which animated those who contributed to that first missionary report which is to be found in the Acts of the Apostles. That spirit animates these men, and it is not for either House of Parliament, or for the people of this land to stand in the way and to bid them hold back. The Master has commanded it, and we should be recreant to our principles and to our Master, if we failed.

"Shall we, whose souls are lighted

With wisdom from on high,

Shall we, to men benighted,

The Lamp of life deny?
Salvation! O, salvation!
The joyful sound proclaim,

Till each remotest nation
Has learnt Messiah's name."

The Rev. Dr. MORTON BROWN: The resolution that I have been requested to move and to recommend for your adoption reads as follows:

"That the report, of which portions have been read, be published and circulated, with its appendix and statement of accounts. That this meeting desires to offer its devout thanksgivings to the God of all grace for the general measure of prosperity with which he has continued to bless the Society during the past year; it rejoices in the entire removal of its financial difficulties, in the large-hearted liberality with which its labours are being sustained, and in the solid usefulness which the recent revision of its plans has only thrown into a clearer light. The meeting desires to offer its special sympathy to the missionary brethren in South Africa amid their many difficulties, and rejoices that the patient labours of those engaged in the recently established stations are at length bearing fruit. It avows its continued faith in the Gospel alone as the true civiliser of barbarous tribes, and heartily thanks God for the repeated testimony given to its power among those tribes throughout the Society's history. And while deeply regretting the unjust and bitter things recently uttered against missionaries in general by a portion of the public press, it offers to all the missionaries of the Society the renewed expression of its confidence and affection; and begs to assure them that the friends of the Society will still study to secure their personal comfort, and to sustain them by their sympathies, their contributions, and their prayers."

After listening to the report which has just been read, I felt as if we had had enough said to us to lead us to desire silent meditation and solemn prayer, rather than continued admonition and appeal. I have felt that the views which have been presented to us of the missionary enterprise have been so wide and so catholic, and the counsels which have been ministered have been so wise and Scriptural, that the impulse has been upon me rather to go under God's blessing and do the little that I may be enabled to do for the furtherance of this undertaking, than to talk about it; but as this may not be the case, and as the business of this Society must be done by this vast assembly, as well as having the report of the Society listened to, I at once cast myself upon your kindly and Christian sympathies, looking to God for His help and blessing whilst I discharge the duty to which I am now called. The time has manifestly come in the history of the London Missionary Society, when its friends, without boasting, may congratulate themselves on its prospects and progress. The liberality of the churches has already rescued the Society from its financial difficulty. The blessing of Almighty God has made it strong to work. It was the sin of the ancient people of God that they forgot the works that He had done, the wonders that He had wrought upon the earth. That must not be our sin to-day; for He hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad. At the time when modern Christian missions were first instituted, the mind of Europe was but little tutored to this one great truth, that the Saviour intended to subjugate to Himself a carnal world by a spiritual church. In connection with that truth we must look at this Society. Men were in the habit of resting upon an arm of flesh; they looked rather to human governments and to the countenance and caresses of human princes, and forgot that there is in connection with Christianity an omnipotent power, -not of man nor by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead; a power apart from human governments, apart from human princes, apart from the spirit of the world itself, and oftentimes opposed to them all, which is to go conquering and to conquer. And when the fathers and founders of this Society (and similar institutions) founded it, they commenced a demonstration, in the face of the universe, of great moment for the Church to consider-a demonstration which was to go to show that it was not by State Churches as such, nor by State priests as such, but by the outgoing and outworking of spiritual religion by spiritual men, that the world was to be brought to Christ; and the question is an important one and increasing in importance, How far has that demonstration proceeded, and what are the lessons which it is scattering by the way? All Europe is sick with the controversies and loss of power which the secular overriding the spiritual has created, and the mind of the Church is made up in many parts and in many sections that temporal power must no longer be connected with the spiritual, but that the spiritual must be free-free as it was in the days of the apostles-to go forth and to do the Lord's

work? In the progress of this demonstration some points have been established. Whatever the writers of the Times may say to the contrary, it is now established that Christian missions are needed in the world. This is a great concession. Time was, sir, when reverend divines that ought to have known better-when English bards and Scotch reviewers that ought to have known better-when men who were but little acquainted with the highest style of true philanthrophy, and men that ought to have had perfect sympathy with Christian aggressiveness were combined by wit, and scorn, and ridicule, to loosen the obligations of the Christian Church to follow out the high behest of its Lord, "Go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature," telling them to look at home, whilst they themselves were neither setting the example of labouring at home or looking abroad. The savage, according to them, was the highest style of gentleman; and savage society was only working out the unsophisticated reason and instinct of man, and wild life was but the culture of the highest muscular organisation. It was true they were in the habit sometimes of killing each other, and having a feast with their compeers on human flesh; still there they were, and they needed not us to make them happier. As for the future, that was not to be thought of. Such were some of the sentiments at the time when this noble Society sent forth its first band of missionaries, daring to go, with undying love for men, to the South Sea Islands. They knew that the cannibals there were men, that they had immortal souls and they were in the habit of believing that Christianity could turn cannibals into Christians, and savages into saints; and they went forth to these beautiful islands, despite all the scorn, and all the ridicule, and all the wit that was poured out in contempt upon them. And what does the report tell us this morning with regard to the work which was begun by these men? For a long season they laboured in patience; they gathered the men around them; they listened to their talk; they caught their language, and they began to tell them of Christ and of His cross. They wrote down their language; they gave them a grammar, a dictionary, a Bible, a literature even in those distant islands of the sea. They became clothed and in their right mind. Churches were built, schools were erected, houses were raised; and what see ye now in contrast with the time when these men of wit ridiculed your first missionaries that went out to the South Seas? Island upon island has cast its idols to the moles and to the bats; these beautiful islands are keeping holy-day, the praises of God are rising in their midst to heaven, and, as you have heard this morning, souls are passing away from them-from death here to life eternal beyond the skies. Another point has been settled. It is this, that not only are Christian missions needed for the world, but the Christianity which they carry is adapted for the world. Some men were in the habit of saying, "It is all very well for you to talk of the state of these barbarians and savages, but Christianity can never turn them into civilized people. It is impossible." This was the style of talk. Now what has been the result in connection with the outgoing of a spiritual Church through spiritual men, and by the Spirit of God in connection with it? Turn to Africa as we heard of it this morning. Let us look for a moment or two at Africa. I pass by the wonderful labours of Vanderkemp among the Hottentots; I pass by the advocacy of Dr. Philip for the Kafir; I tarry not to refer to the Reads, senior and junior, and their labours, nor shall I speak now of those martyr missionaries of more modern days, such as Helmore, who went out to Africa, but I hasten to look at one tribe. Here is a tribe beyond civilisation-the Bechuanas. Why don't you who find fault with Christian missions go and see what you can do in regard to civilisation with such a tribe as that? Why don't those who speak of civilisation as all powerful and needful go and take a tribe like that and civilise them? You have not done it, but it has been done, and that to a marvellous extent. Follow that brave man and his heroic wife as they go beyond the limits of civilisation. See them there, sitting down in the midst of that wild, wandering, I had almost said, worthless people. There they are. He gathers by his sympathetic look and sympathetic hand, that people around him. He too gets at the language. Of a night, after hunting with them, he sits down and tells them of the faith of Abraham, of the patience of Job, of the poetry of David, of the rapt power of Isaiah, of the purity of